Run-resistant hosiery and method of making the same



Aug. 3, 1965 w. E. SHEELER RUN-RESISTANT HOSIERY AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed July 9, 1962 INVENTOR.

U/il/fam E. jhe e/er By %W ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3 197,978- RUN-RESISTANT HSIERY AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME William E. Sheeler, Sinking Spring, .Pa., assignor to Berk- The instant invention relates to womens seamless hosiery and more particularly to hosiery having runresistant characteristics and to a method of making the same.

Heretofore it has been proposed to knit womens seamless hosiery, i.e., hosiery produced on a fine gauge circular knitting machine, with run-resistant characteristics particularly in the leg and foot portions thereof. Such proposals have, for the most part, been embodied in hosiery employing tuck loops in alternate wales and alternate courses, here referred to as a 1 and 1 tuck, in such leg and foot portions, the courses having the held loops of the tucks being relatively tight courses with the result that yarn is robbed from loops intermediate the held loops of such courses and they are pulled relatively tightly around and bind the legs of the succeeding loops in their wales. As a result the tight loops resist the withdrawal of the succeeding loops therethrough when released by the breaking of a thread in their wales.

The instant invention is concerned with, and has for an object, the provision of run-resistant hosiery generally of the type described above but in which tuck stitches are formed in every third wale of every other course, here referred to as a 2 and 1 construction, throughout the main portion of the stocking. This construction imparts a desirable increased elasticity to the fabric but at the same time the robbing effect of the'held loops of the tuck stitches is somewhat lessened and the intermediate loops arc, in part at least, increased in size with a consequent reduction in the binding effect thereof. However in accordance with the instant invention the run-resistant characteristics of the fabric are nevertheless retained or enhanced by the use of multi-filament superpolyamide yarn, i.e. nylon yarn, and the subjection of the knitted fabric to the action of a swelling and shrinking bath for such superpolyamides, suitably in the presence of ultrasonic vibration, whereby the individual filaments of the yarns tend to separate and curl and in effect add bulkiness to the yarn. These added characteristics of the yarn contribute very substantially to the resistance of the loops to withdrawal through the tight or robbed loops thus maintaining or enhancing the run-resistant characteristics of the fabric as aforesaid.

It has been found that in the knitting of a stocking attaining the foregoing objects that, after the completion of the heel pocket, which is formed of plain stitches by reciprocating knitting in a conventional manner, the resumption of the 2 and l tuck knitting in the sole area gives rise to serious problems. Apparently due to the extra fabric forming the heel pocket and the lack of effective take-down tension on such fabric and the immediately following sole courses, and the unbalanced condition of the 2 and 1 fabric of such sole courses, the fabric tends to bunch up and cause defective knitting. The solution of this difficulty, which comprises an object of this invention, has been found to reside in modifying the stitch construction in the sole to the more balanced 1 and 1 construction. Accordingly this object of the invention is attained by the provision of a stocking having a plain knit heel pocket and employing a 2 and 1 construction in the leg and instep portions and a 1 and 1 construction in the sole portion.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of improved methods of producing stockings attaining the foregoing objects.

My invention will be more fully understood and further objects and advantages will become apparent when reference is made to the more detailed description which is to follow and to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a stocking in flattened form incorporating the invention therein;

FIG. 2 is a detailed inverted view on an enlarged scale of a portion of the fabric within the dot-and-dash lines 2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a detailed view on an enlarged scale of fabric loops of the instant invention illustrating the yarn construction thereof.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown a womens seamless stocking preferably formed of nylon or equivalent yarn and knit on a conventional circular knitting machine adapted to circularly knit the leg and foot portions and to reciprocatorily knit the heel pocket, and also the toe pocket if desired. Preferably the machine has two feeding and knitting stations although this is not essential. The stocking illustrated comprises welt and afterwelt portions 16 and 11, respectively, leg portion 12, sole 13 and instep 14, all produced by run-down or circular knitting, and heel and toe pockets 15 and 16, respectively, at least the heel pocket being formed by reciprocatory knitting. In accordance with the instant invention the stocking is preferably, although not necessarily, knit throughout of multifilament yarns and the stocking after completion of the knitting and conventional finishing operations, up to and including dyeing, is subjected to immersion in a swelling and shrinking bath suitably in the presence of ultrasonic vibration, as will be hereinafter more fully explained. Leg portion 12 and instep portion 14 of the stocking illustrated are knit with alternate tuck courses and intermediate so-called plain courses.

Referring to FIG. 2, which is an inverted view of adjoining portions of the instep and sole fabric, with the direction of knitting proceeding upwardly, the tuck courses are illustrated at T and the plain courses at P. It will be noted that in the fabric constituting the instep,

the fabric of the right half of FIG. 2; a loop 19 of every third wale of the tuck courses is tucked with a held loop 20 of the preceding plain course. Also that the tucks are staggered in the adjacent courses with loops 19 and 20 forming each tuck being interknit with a plain loop of the following course. The loops drawn during the formation of courses P are short loops, relative to the loops drawn during the formation of the courses T, whereby the held loops 2%) necessarily rob yarn from the intermediate loops 21 and 22 to cause the latter to become very short and in many instances (see loops 22) to, elfect, collapse and tightly embrace the legs of the plain loops in the following course whereby run-resist ance is efiected. The stitch construction employed in the leg portion, namely that part of the stocking extending from the top to the upper edge of the heel pocket and to broken line 17 designating the start of the instep portion, is identical with that of the instep portion described above.

Referring now to the left hand side of FIG. 2 the stitch construction employed in the sole area 13 is shown, the courses thereof being partial course continuations of the partial courses T and P of the instep portion. The stitch construction is similar to that of the instep and leg areas except that the tuck stitches and held loops thereof are formed in every other wale (1 and 1) instead of every third wale. Similarly as in the formation of the previously described instep and leg fabric the loops Patented Aug. 3', 1965:

constituting the plain courses are originally drawn shorter than the loops constituting the tuck courses whereby, as every other loop of the plain course is a held loop 25, intermediate loops 26 are substantially completely robbed and collapse. It will be recognized that such substantially complete collapse of all of the intermediate loops tends to restrict the coursewise stretch characteristics of the fabric to a greater degree than does the instep and leg fabric. However as the 1 and 1 mesh construction is confined to the sole area, the over-all stretch characteristics of the stocking are not deleteriously affected.

Following completion of knitting and the conventional finishing operations, such as looping and dyeing, the stocking of FIG. 1 may be subjected to the action of a shrinking and swelling agent for the yarn of which it is made suitably in the presence of ultrasonic vibration. For example the stocking, knit of nylon or other superpolyamide, may be immersed in a bath of a shrinking and swelling agent, such as an acqueous solution of the order of 4 to 6% of phenol, for a period of up to 15 seconds while preferably, at the same time, the bath is subjected to ultrasonic vibrations at frequencies within the range of 20,000 to 60,000 cycles per second. Thereafter the stocking is rinsed to remove the shrinking and swelling agent. Such treatment, which per se forms no part of the instant invention, is described in detail in the co-pending application of Hermann Loosli, Serial No. 768,527, filed October 16, 1958, now Patent No. 3,084,020, and in British Patent No. 859,574 published January 25, 1961.

The above described aftertreatment causes the individual nylon filaments of the yarns to partially separate as illustrated in FIG. 3 to add bulk to the yarn and increase its frictional resistance. Hence the combination of this feature with the 2 and 1 tuck construction (the right hand side of FIG. 2) produces a fabric having excellent run-resistant characteristics. At the same time, the 1 and 1 construction in the sole area eliminate production problems, and as it is confined to the sole does not adversely affect the stretch characteristics of the stocking as a whole.

Having thus described the invention in rather complete detail it will be understood that these details need not be strictly adhered to and that various changes and modifications may be made all falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A run-resistant stocking fabric comprising circularly knit instep and sole portions and a reciprocatorily knit heel pocket, said heel pocket being of plain knit construction, said instep portion being formed of knitted loops of yarn with every third loop in alternate courses comprising a held loop, said sole portion being formed of knitted loops of yarn with every other loop in alternate courses comprising a held loop, and both said portions having the loops of intermediate courses in the wales of the held loops tucked with said held loops, and having the loops between said held loops of said alternate courses constituting relatively tightly drawn loops.

2. A run-resistant seamless stocking as defined in claim 1 wherein said loops of said instep and said sole portions are formed of multifilament yarn with the filaments thereof at least partially separated from one another between the crossing points of the loops.

3. A method of making a run-resistant stocking comprising reciprocatorily knitting a heel pocket thereof with plain loops, circularly knitting an instep portion there of to form loops of yarn with every third loop in alternate courses comprising a held loop and a sole portion thereof to form loops of yarn with every other loop in alternate courses thereof comprising a held loop, and in the forming of both said portions tucking loops of the intermediate courses in the wales of said held loops with said held loops and drawing loops between said held loops of said alternate courses relatively tightly.

4. A method as defined in claim 3 wherein said loops of said instep and sole portions are knit of multifilament yarn, the further step of immersing said stocking after the knitting thereof in a bath of a shrinking and swelling agent for superpolyamides while subjecting said bath to ultrasonic vibrations.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,536,946 5/25 Sutphen 6640 1,880,158 9/32 Siegel 66-169 2,022,157 11/35 Siegel 66169 2,045,776 6/36 Holt 66-169 X 2,501,353 3/50 Page 66198 X 2,609,677 9/52 'P icard 66169 2,640,339 6/53 Dowell 66182 2,994,214 8/61 Wood et al 66-178 3,034,324 5/62 McDonough 66-178 3,084,020 4/63 Loosli 28-76 X RUSSELL C. MADER, Primary Examiner, 

1. A RUN-RESISTANT STOCKING FABRIC COMPRISING CIRCULARLY KNIT INSTEP AND SOLE PORTIONS AND A RECIPROCATORILY KNIT HEEL POCKET, SAID HEEL POCKET BEING OF PLAIN KNIT CONSTRUCTION, SAID INSTEP PORTION BEING FORMED OF KNITTED LOOPS OF YARN WITH EVERY THIRD LOOP IN ALTERNATE COURSE COMPRISING A HELD LOOP, SAID SOLE PORTION BEING FORMED OF KNITTED LOOPS OF YARN WITH EVERY OTHER LOOP IN ALTERNATED COURSES COMPRISING A HELD LOOP, AND BOTH SAID PORTIONS HAVING THE LOOPS OF INTERMEDIATE COURSES IN THE WALES OF THE HELD LOOPS TUCKED WITH SAID HELD LOOPS, AND HAVING THE LOOPS BETWEEN SAID HELD LOOPS OF SAID ALTERNATED COURSES CONSTITUTING RELATIVELY TIGHTLY DRAWN LOOPS. 